The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
(NIBIB) was established by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging
and Bioengineering Establishment Act (H.R. 1795), which was signed into
law on December 29, 2000. The primary mission of the Institute is to improve
health by supporting and conducting interdisciplinary research and training
in biomedical imaging and bioengineering. This is achieved through supporting
the development and translation of emerging technologies that enable fundamental
biomedical discoveries and facilitate early disease detection and management.
More specifically, the NIBIB plans, conducts, and supports an integrated
and coordinated program of research and research training that can be
applied to a broad spectrum of biological processes, disorders, and diseases
and across organ systems. The research promoted and supported by NIBIB
is strongly synergistic with the other NIH institutes and centers as well
as across government agencies, and has the potential for direct positive
medical application. Ultimately, NIBIB seeks to translate research findings
from the laboratory into practical solutions that will benefit the public
health.

Research

To support its mission, the Institute will coordinate
and support research and research training through existing NIH funding
mechanisms; explore and develop novel approaches for funding technology
development and interdisciplinary research; develop and implement a program
that cross trains research scientists in the biological and quantitative
sciences; form synergistic partnerships within the NIH to translate fundamental
research discoveries into medical applications; coordinate and collaborate
with other government agencies, academia and industry to translate fundamental
crosscutting discoveries and developments in imaging and engineering into
biomedical applications; collaborate with voluntary and professional organizations
engaged in biomedical imaging and bioengineering research and training
activities; assume a leadership role in trans-agency initiatives for the
construct of common data platforms and relevant standards and guidelines;
and establish an intramural research and training program that focuses
on emerging biomedical technologies.

Research Training

In order to encourage young, talented researchers, the
Institute is providing training programs in the biomedical imaging and
bioengineering fields through several funding mechanisms. NIBIB provides
National Research Service Award Institutional Training Grants to support
training for careers in multidisciplinary research, and National Research
Service Awards for Individual Postdoctoral Fellows to support promising
applicants with the potential to become productive, independent investigators
in fields related to the mission of the NIBIB.

Important Events in NIBIB History

December 29, 2000 – The National Institute
of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering Establishment Act (H.R. 1795)
is signed into law by President William Jefferson Clinton.

April 20, 2001 – The NIBIB Establishment
Plan, which described the initial infrastructure, organization, budget
requirements, and mission, is approved by the Secretary of DHHS, Mr. Tommy
G. Thompson.

April 26, 2001 – Dr. Donna J. Dean is named
as Acting Director of the NIBIB.

June 13, 2001 – The NIBIB holds its first
interagency activity, the "Joint NIH/NSF Workshop on Bioengineering and
Bioinformatics Education and Training" at the National Science Foundation
Headquarters, Arlington, Virginia.

August 28, 2001 – The National Advisory
Council for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering is established.

September 19, 2001 – The NIBIB assumes administration
of the NIH's Bioengineering Consortium (BECON). Dr. Jeffery Schloss of
the National Human Genome Research Institute is named as the BECON Chair.

September 21, 2001 – The vacancy announcement
is issued for the first permanent Director of NIBIB.

October 1, 2001 – The NIBIB web site is
released.

October 11, 2001 – Program announcements
for the BECON-coordinated Bioengineering Research Grants and Bioengineering
Research Partnerships are released in the "NIH Guide."

December 3, 2001 – A joint "DOE/NIH Workshop
on Thermography" is held in Bethesda, Maryland.

January 9, 2002 – A working group is established
by NIBIB to review NIH research grants and make recommendations for transfers
of relevant funded grants to NIBIB.

January 11, 2001 – The NIBIB's first budget
appropriation is approved. The FY 2002 appropriation authorized a total
of $112 million for the Institute.

February 21, 2002 – The NIBIB announces
its first two Requests for Applications: RFA No. EB-02-001 entitled "Research
and Development of Systems and Methods for Molecular Imaging"; and RFA
No. EB-02-002 entitled "Sensor Development and Validation."

February 26, 2002 – NIBIB program staff
move to new office space at 2 Democracy Plaza in Bethesda, Maryland.

April 8, 2002 – The NIBIB announces the
award of its first research grants to Yale University School of Medicine,
the University of California at San Francisco, and Tribofilm Research,
Inc.

May 7, 2002 – Dr. Roderic Pettigrew, Professor
of Radiology, Medicine (Cardiology) and Bioengineering, and Director of
the Emory Center for MR Research, Emory University School of Medicine,
is named as the first Director of the NIBIB.

June 26, 2002 – BECON conducts a symposium
on "Sensors in Biological Research and Medicine." Extramural co-chairs
were Drs. Warren Grundfest of the University of California, Los Angeles,
and Milan Mrksich of the University of Chicago.

July 7, 2002 – The NIBIB, IEEE's Signal
Processing Society, and IEEE's Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society
conduct the "First International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging: Macro
to Nano" in Washington, D.C.

August 12, 2002 – NIBIB officials attend
the dedication of the new Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall at the University
of California, San Diego. Speakers at the dedication include Dr. Donna
Dean, Acting Director of NIBIB, and Dr. Roderic Pettigrew, director designate.

August 28, 2002 – The NIBIB conducts a "Workshop
on Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering Training," in Bethesda, Maryland.

September 13, 2002 – The NIBIB, NCI, and
NSF hold a "Workshop on Image-Guided Interventions."

September 23, 2002 – Dr. Roderic Pettigrew
assumes the position of Director of NIBIB.

September 26, 2002 – The NIBIB co-sponsors
the "Third Inter-Institute Workshop on Diagnostic Optical Imaging and
Spectroscopy: The Clinical Adventure."

December 16, 2002 - NIBIB conducts the "Workshop
on Future Research Directions," in Bethesda, Maryland.

January 9, 2003 - NIBIB holds the first meeting of the National
Advisory Council for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering in Bethesda,
Maryland.

February 20, 2003 - Dr. Roderic Pettigrew and Dr. Donna Dean are
inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical
and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) at the annual meeting in Washington,
D.C.

March 27, 2003 - NIBIB holds a conference on "Defining the State
of the Art in Biomedical Imaging: Research Needs for the Future," at the
University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi.

May 13, 2003 - New NIBIB organization announced by Dr. Roderic
Pettigrew.

June 26, 2003 - BECON conducts a symposium on "Catalyzing Team
Science." Extramural co-chairs were Drs. Janie Fouke of Michigan State
University and Keith Brodie of Duke University, and the NIH Chair was
Dr. Daniel Sullivan of the National Cancer Institute.

September 17, 2003 - The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging
and Bioengineering Special Emphasis Panel is established.

Dr. Roderic I. Pettigrew became the first director of
NIBIB in September 2002. Prior to his appointment at NIBIB, he was Professor
of Radiology, Medicine (Cardiology) at Emory University and Bioengineering
at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Director of the Emory Center
for MR Research, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.

Dr. Pettigrew is known for his pioneering work at Emory
University involving four-dimensional imaging of the heart using magnetic
resonance (MRI). Dr. Pettigrew graduated cum laude from Morehouse College
with a B.S. in physics, where he was a Merrill Scholar; has an M.S. in
nuclear science and engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute;
and a Ph.D. in applied radiation physics from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, where he was a Whitaker Harvard-MIT Health Science Scholar.
Subsequently, he received an M.D. from the University of Miami School
of Medicine in an accelerated two-year program, did an internship and
residency in internal medicine at Emory University, and completed a residency
in nuclear medicine at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Pettigrew
then spent a year as a clinical research scientist with Picker International,
the first manufacturer of MRI equipment. In 1985, he joined Emory as a
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Fellow with an interest in non-invasive
cardiac imaging.

Dr. Pettigrew's awards include membership in Phi Beta
Kappa, the Bennie Award (Benjamin E. Mays) for Achievement, and being
named the most Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Miami. In 1989,
when the Radiological Society of North America celebrated its 75th Diamond
anniversary scientific meeting, it selected Dr. Pettigrew to give the
keynote Eugene P. Pendergrass New Horizons Lecture. He has served as chairman
of the Diagnostic Radiology Study Section, Center for Scientific Review,
NIH.